Appreciation

I'd like to take a moment of your time.
 
What is appreciation? It's understanding. It's taking a moment or more of your time to escape yourself and your life, and thinking about something or someone. It requires no physical action, yet it would seem that the laziest people may just as easily be, or are even more, guilty of not appreciating things; because it does require effort. But, appreciation is also a skill that we have, to varying degrees, already mastered. Think about a person, piece of art, song, food, diet - anything you can easily describe to someone else. You have found something you appreciate. Now step outside of your thoughts about it, and simply be glad that you have something you appreciate - even if it's just yourself.
 
Be careful, though. Don't think about yourself and assume you're being appreciative. Do you understand yourself? Do you know why you act the way you do, why you like the things you like, dislike the annoyances in your life, agree or disagree with the politicians you listen to? Do you understand the cause of your emotions? Self appreciation may be the hardest form of appreciation there is - because it's always hardest to understand yourself. Luckily, unlike appreciating other things, the knowledge we need to fully appreciate it is at our disposal. It just requires introspection. Lots and lots of self examination. Don't feel selfish doing so - you're simply trying to appreciate yourself, building a skill, so that you may more easily understand and empathize with others.
 
I already warned you to be careful about self appreciation. Now, I'm warning you to be careful about appreciating others. Because you will never be able to fully appreciate others. You may be able to do so more than many of the people they know, but remember: while actions define how a person appears (and is likely to set a different future for them than a different or non action) their thoughts are who they believe themselves to be, just as you do. You will never see a person the exact same way they do. It may be close enough that neither of you can see the distinction unless you actually look for one, but it's true. There is always more to be appreciated.
 
I've rambled on a lot about appreciation and its effects, but you may be (or are probably not, but whatever ) wondering how to be able to fully appreciate something, other than simply thinking about it. What to think about? Well, it's like peeling an onion - and yes, it may even make you cry. I suppose it depends on how susceptible you are to emotions!
 
First, try to find your assumptions about it. What have you created about that person's life? What about that animal? A specific era of history? Really, really think here because we can easily assume without realizing, and our brain will create a story off of it and distort the perception we hold of it. What do you know about its history? How has its physical appearance changed throughout its existence? What is its "baby" form? Child? Teen? Near death? Everything changes, that's a fact. Even rocks came from something else, whether it was a piece of a bigger rock or just somehow chemically changed. (Clearly, I have not given enough appreciation to rocks. ) With life, why do they react the way they do to things? How do their reactions change per circumstance? Where are the consistencies? What could have caused their reactions? Try to step inside of their shoes. Be that person for a (sped up) day.
 
It's about knowing as much of its history as possible. You can appreciate anything. Your father, sister, best friend, dog, table, an ant, the sun, science, religion, a joke, someone's hair color. Appreciation is beautiful, because anyone can do it, about anything, anywhere, almost anytime. The only thing you need to do in order to appreciate something, is decide to do it. If you choose something more complicated, though, you will definitely need to set aside some time. If you find that you don't take much time to appreciate things, start simple. Skills are like muscles and need to be worked out. You're not going to appreciate the universe if you can't take 10 minutes to appreciate the cashier ringing you up, or the guy walking down the side of the road.
 
What do you appreciate? What steps did you take to appreciate it?
 
You can share if you want, or not, like I said - it's your choice. I made this half for you guys, half for myself. We can all use more appreciation, because it can't do anything but help. It's especially great when you're having a bad day - even better when you want to stew in your anger or misery. It feels that much greater to come out of that slump.
 
I completely forgot the key aspect of appreciation, by assuming it was known by doing it myself. I am guilty. The biggest tool in working your appreciation muscle is asking questions - whys and hows will work wonders. You may not always find a suitable answer, but you will always get deeper. It is never ending.
 
TL;DR: I hope you'll come back another time.

 

 
That's awesome. What was UFC designed for? What about other martial arts? Why were martial arts designed as a sport? Was it to facilitate humbleness? Was it to encourage goals of being the best? What is its history? How have martial arts affected our history? What might have been different had it never been a sport? What might have been gained or lost?